UTA 68 BUFFALO 74
The saying in basketball goes – if you live by the three, you die by the three. If these first two games are an indicator, it may be something the UTA Mavericks will have to deal with this season.
The Mavericks took 31 shots – nearly half of their total – from beyond the three-point line, and the inability to hit them dug them into a hole they ultimately could not climb out of in falling to Buffalo in their first game at College Park Center this season.
UTA shot 39 percent from the game, but the most telling was hitting only hitting nine of those long shots. In fact, if you take away the three-pointers, the Mavs shot 47 percent.
Eleven of those misses came in the second half, including the first five of the period, at which time the Bulls were able to expand what had been a four-point lead at halftime to as many as 15 with 4 1/2 minutes to play. Erick Neal and Kevin Hervey did manage to hit threes after that to cut the deficit to seven, but the Mavs never got closer than six with under a minute to play.
They won’t have too much time to dwell on this, as the Mavs are currently playing games at the rate of an NBA team; this game was part of their participation in the Cawood Ledford Classic. UTA will face Grand Canyon in Phoenix on Thursday before returning to Arlington to face Houston Baptist on Saturday.